Is this a good upgrade and were do all the extra speakers go?

I think so, but I know others think not!

I have never had a decent stereo setup in a car, this is the first and I'm impressed but I know others think it's too much and get better after market.

As where they are, in the doors

Is this a good upgrade and were do all the extra speakers go?

You get a midrange speaker in each door to complement the standard bass speaker and tweeter. To cope with the additional load you get an amp under the drivers seat too.

The UK option also includes upgrade to the Audience Head Unit. This is identical to the standard Stream head unit except it has the 6 disc cd changer built-in (instead of in the boot) and it can play mp3's off cd's. If you are big into the quality of your music, prefer to play mp3's off cd or you just have £600 burning a hole in your pocket then why not.

I went for the standard unit as I didn't think it was worth it but to be honest, compensating for the lack of mp3 function and missing speakers is proving to be a right pain in the ****.

So presumably that means:

- You don't get any more bass, just a better mid-range, and

- You get some room in the boot where the 6-CD changer would normally sit?

Having lookd at a Volvo V70 as an alternative to an Octy L&K estate, I note that Volvo offer a sub-woofer as a factory fit option for GBP 180 - goes under the load floor (in the spare wheel space?). Nothing like that in the Audience/speaker upgrade, then?

To be honest, I would have thought that adding mid-range speakers would have allowed them to fit dedicated bass units with a bit more grunt.

To be fair the std door speakers kick out a fair amount of bass as it is (iirc they are 16.5cm woofers as std). The smaller mid range speaker in the door adds a bit of clarity and moves the sound stage a bit further forward.

The Audience + with the extra speakers IMHO is one of the best factory sound systems ive heard. Beats the BOSE set up in the Mazda 6 thats for sure.

So presumably that means:

- You don't get any more bass' date=' just a better mid-range, and

- You get some room in the boot where the 6-CD changer would normally sit?

Having lookd at a Volvo V70 as an alternative to an Octy L&K estate, I note that Volvo offer a sub-woofer as a factory fit option for GBP 180 - goes under the load floor (in the spare wheel space?). Nothing like that in the Audience/speaker upgrade, then?

To be honest, I would have thought that adding mid-range speakers would have allowed them to fit dedicated bass units with a bit more grunt.[/quote']

I believe Skoda do offer a subwoofer speaker option for the OctyII in other some other regions and I also understand they offer a factory Bluetooth kit too but sadly not in the UK.

You gain additional space in the storage cubby of the nearside wheelarch but TBH i'm glad of my autochanger being in the boot because you get a little 3 compartment rack with one section used up by the 6 disc changer and the other free to install DIN sized goodies like my Mp3 player. I also plan to build my DAB tuner into a DIN sized enclosure to fit in there too. Nice one Skoda. Obviously I still have a single disc player in the HU too.

The in built 6 disc changer in the audience HU is a nice touch but the one in the car I test drove was noisy when changing discs and extremely slow too. Lummox is right about the soundstage and in theory it should sound better but swmbo just reminded me that we found that the 12 speaker setup actually sounded worse than the standard 8 speaker setup.

Let me explain. The Audience Head unit is an OEM item and sound quality isn't going to compare with the likes of an Alpine HU or even a JVC or Kenwood one. To me OEM car audio systems let themselves down most in the quality of their midrange performance (Obviously bass and high freq treble can suffer too but OEM HU's aren't bad at this these days).This makes sense as the midrange is the predominant frequency range for vocals etc. It's the midrange that really makes the soundstage and the Skoda mid range offering in the 12 speaker setup isn't that good IMO. Midrange is where the cracks started to show in the 12 speaker car I test drove anyway.

The 8 speaker setup on the other hand doesn't have the midrange speakers so it's a lot more forgiving even if the soundstage is compromised by the location of the speakers. The Stream 8 speaker setup could still do with a little more treble but if I get fed up with it i'll tackle that myself.

It's a matter of personal preference really. I would listen to both systems before deciding.

One thing I would say is that I plan to install a subwoofer. I'll then be able to turn down the bass on the HU and drive the door mounted bass speakers a bit harder without them distorting. I think thats a good idea if you like your bass regardless of which system you choose.

I think that the audience and 12 speaker upgrade is a good buy as far as sound quality. You can adjust the level of the bass, mid range and treble seperately to suit your taste.

The only drawback I have had so far is that I have had to have both front doors looked at due to the volume that I can crnk it up to without too much distortion.

Well had mine for over 12 months now and I have been well impressed with it having come from a after market Alpine 9812 with Honda BOSE Speakers.

MP3 navigation is a pain though, and it's easy to get lost looking for an album never mind a track when you have 6 discs full of MP3's say approx 60 albums on line at a time.

I think that the audience and 12 speaker upgrade is a good buy as far as sound quality. You can adjust the level of the bass' date=' mid range and treble seperately to suit your taste.

The only drawback I have had so far is that I have had to have both front doors looked at due to the volume that I can crnk it up to without too much distortion.[/quote']

I don't seem to get speaker distortion, mainly creaks and groans from the trim. I'm considering deadening the doors to help....

When I eventually get my Octy it should have a Sat Nav fitted, but nobody I have asked seems to know if it has roughly the same audio quality as the Stream model. My old Mk4 Golf had the 2 din Sat Nav and this had superior sound quality compared with the basic Golf system, mainly I’m told, because it had a bigger amp. Any idea guys? Also Johnnyc mentioned some nice DIN sized space next to the boot auto-changer, does anyone know if it would be easy to install a separate MP3 player, preferably one that plays mp3 encoded DVDs and interface it with my Sat Nav and Multi-func steering controls? I’d probably have to pay someone to fit it though, if it's possible, which makes are best?

In my (lengthy) experience of in-car audio, it falls into 2 schools: the European (clear balanced sound suitable for a hushed environment) and the Japanese/US (boom 'n' tizz for a rowdy one). Now while I'm all in favour of clarity (my home system is impeccable), that's not necessarily the case on the move, where the ambient sound levels are so high and you may need a bit of emphasis.

So you really need something which sounds good at speed - which may not be the same as a set-up which sounds good stationary. I wonder if the various contributors to this thread are talking about 2 different things - the absolute quality (sitting in Tesco's car park listening to rock) and the real-life quality (85mph up the M6 trying to listen to Mozart). Not that I would countenance the latter for a second, you must understand - speed, not Mozart, chaps!

You can adjust the level of the bass, mid range and treble seperately to suit your taste..

You can do that on the revised STREAM headunits also.

You can do that on the revised STREAM headunits also.

Adjust all three - bass, middle & treble - how? and do they have the option to preset acoustic profiles (as most Blaupunkt radios have)?

Same as the audience, when you select the audio menu three settings appear, treble, mid and bass. Makes quite a difference.

In my (lengthy) experience of in-car audio' date=' it falls into 2 schools: the European (clear balanced sound suitable for a hushed environment) and the Japanese/US (boom 'n' tizz for a rowdy one). Now while I'm all in favour of clarity (my home system is impeccable), that's not necessarily the case on the move, where the ambient sound levels are so high and you may need a bit of emphasis.

So you really need something which sounds good at speed - which may not be the same as a set-up which sounds good stationary. I wonder if the various contributors to this thread are talking about 2 different things - the absolute quality (sitting in Tesco's car park listening to rock) and the real-life quality (85mph up the M6 trying to listen to Mozart). Not that I would countenance the latter for a second, you must understand - speed, not Mozart, chaps![/quote']

Fair point